{"id":282252,"date":"2010-02-05T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-05T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:criminaljustice.change.org:\/\/84e31b10036f2a5d5789a4f06776e979"},"modified":"2010-02-05T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-05T15:00:00","slug":"stop-tx-from-executing-another-innocent-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/282252","title":{"rendered":"Stop TX From Executing Another Innocent Man"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1888\" title=\"uuuse7\" src=\"http:\/\/change-production.s3.amazonaws.com\/photos\/wordpress_copies\/criminaljustice\/2010\/02\/uuuse7-250x166.jpg\" height=\"166\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" \/>In less than three weeks, Hank Skinner is scheduled to be executed in Texas for three murders he says he didn&#8217;t commit. Despite the existence of untested DNA evidence that could prove him innocent or confirm his guilt, the state is seeking to go forward with his lethal injection on Feb. 24.<\/p>\n<p>Even by the standards of our most execution-happy state, it&#8217;s unacceptable that officials would put a prisoner to death while ignoring scientific evidence that could prove him innocent.<\/p>\n<p>The case for Skinner&#8217;s innocence is by no means certain. On the other hand, the case for DNA testing is clear.<\/p>\n<p>Skinner admits he was in his house when his girlfriend and her two sons were killed, and he was found hours later by police at an ex-girlfriend&#8217;s house with the victims&#8217; blood on his clothes and a gash in his hand. But there&#8217;s an alternate suspect that exists, as well as evidence that hasn&#8217;t yet been tested. A reasonable observer could raise doubt over his case, and scientific evidence can offer finality. Texas should conduct these tests before it carries out a punishment it can&#8217;t reverse.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.change.org\/actions\/view\/hey_texas_please_dont_execute_an_innocent_man\" >Send a letter right now to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles<\/a> supporting Skinner&#8217;s clemency petition so he can continue to seek DNA testing in the case.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.change.org\/actions\/view\/hey_texas_please_dont_execute_an_innocent_man\"><strong>Send a letter right now to Gov. Rick Perry<\/strong><\/a>, urging him to stay Skinner&#8217;s execution so DNA testing can be conducted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/criminaljustice.change.org\/widgets\/content\/petition_badge_615_js\/27050\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Students working with Professor David Protess at Northwestern&#8217;s Medill School of Journalism have investigated the case for a decade &#8212; turning up critical evidence calling Skinner&#8217;s conviction into doubt. As well, a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/stories\/2010\/jan\/28\/dead-man-balking\/\" >two-part story<\/a> in the\u00a0<em>Texas Tribune<\/em> last week further raised questions about Skinner&#8217;s case.<\/p>\n<p>If there&#8217;s one thing I&#8217;ve learned in my experience of working on wrongful conviction cases, it&#8217;s the futility of trying to predict the cases in which DNA will exonerate a prisoner. Sometimes it&#8217;s the defendants who seem most guilty who are proven innocent &#8212; after all, that&#8217;s often how they were convicted.<\/p>\n<p>Texas Governor Rick Perry already has the execution of an innocent man on his hands. In 2004, he refused to stop the killing of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.innocenceproject.org\/Content\/2170.php\">Cameron Todd Willingham<\/a>, despite the state&#8217;s possession of powerful proof that Willingham was convicted based on faulty arson evidence. In the years since Willingham&#8217;s execution, evidence of his innocence has grown stronger &#8212; culminating with a comprehensive<em> <\/em><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/reporting\/2009\/09\/07\/090907fa_fact_grann?yrail\" >New Yorker<\/a><\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/reporting\/2009\/09\/07\/090907fa_fact_grann?yrail\" > <\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/reporting\/2009\/09\/07\/090907fa_fact_grann?yrail\" >story<\/a> last August that dismantled every shred of the case against Willingham. The Willingham case provides even more reason for <span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">Perry<\/span> the state to stay Skinner&#8217;s execution.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not right to rush to execution when better evidence is available. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.change.org\/actions\/view\/hey_texas_please_dont_execute_an_innocent_man\">Write to the Board of Pardons and Paroles here to help ensure that evidence is tested in Skinner&#8217;s case before Texas makes another mistake<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: line-through;\">Perry should know that even in Texas, it&#8217;s not right to rush to execution when better evidence is available. Write to Perry here to help ensure that evidence is tested in Skinner&#8217;s case before Texas makes another mistake.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>UPDATE: Per the request below from Skinner&#8217;s family, we have changed the focus of this action from the Governor to the Board of Pardons and Paroles. We will post additional information as we have it.<\/p>\n<p><em>(Full disclosure, I went to Northwestern and worked with the Medill Innocence Project in 2001. I didn&#8217;t work on the Skinner case. At the risk of being repetitive: views expressed here are mine alone and don&#8217;t represent any organization.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Photo Credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/redfishid\/3164273464\/\">brew ha ha<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In less than three weeks, Hank Skinner is scheduled to be executed in Texas for three murders he says he didn&#8217;t commit. Despite the existence of untested DNA evidence that could prove him innocent or confirm his guilt, the state is seeking to go forward with his lethal injection on Feb. 24. Even by the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}